Process and apparatus for drying pots.



W. E. BARNES.

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR DRYING POTS. APPLICATION FILED AUG- 10. 1912.

1,151,555. PatentedAfig. 31,1915.

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fig??? W31 WM A TTORNE Y2 PLATE GLASS COMPANY, OF PENNSYLVANIA.

WILI IIAM E. BARNES, OF CREIGHTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO PITTSBURGHPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Aug. 31, 1915.

Application filed August 10, 1912. Serial No. 714,488.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. BARNES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Creighton, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inProcesses and Apparatus for Drying Pots, of which the following is aspecification.

The invention relates to the art of drying the pots employed in themanufacture of plate glass. These pots are of clay and must be driedvery slowly and uniformly in order to avoid strains and cracks in thematerial. The object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus whereby the drying out process may be hastened and whereby thecracking maybe eliminated. This is accomplished by the provision ofmeans whereby the drying of those'portions of the pots which areordinarily slowest in drying are hastened and those portions whichordinarily dry out quickest are retarded, thus making the drying processmore uniform. The apparatus preferably employed in the carrying out ofthe process is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figurel is a transverse section through a pot and the apparatus employed, Fig.2 is a plan view of the apparatus as shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is apartial side elevation of the side wall beneath the supporting late. pReferring to the drawings, 1 is the pot of clay which is to be dried; 2is a supporting plate for the pot, preferably made of iron; 3 is aframework, in the present instance of wood, lying beneath .andsupporting the plate 2; 4 is the side Wall of the chamber beneath theerably a sheet metal band bent to the form illustrated and secured atits ends by means of the clips 5 and the threaded rod 6; 7 is a heatingelement, preferably an incandescent lamp; 8 is a perforation through themember 4, for the insertion of the lamp 7 such passage being covered bythe swinging disk 9; 10 is a covering for the upper edge or rim of thepot, such covering being preferably oilcloth or similarmaterial; 11 is atin tube or flue having an asbestos covering and supported adjacent thecenter of the interior of the pot, and 12 is a second inplate 2, suchside wall being prefcandescent lam for creatin an u Ward draft throughthe tube. g i p The bottom and interior of the pot' ordinarlly dry moreslowly than the other portrons, while the rim or upper edge of the potdries more rapidly than the other portions, and it is the purpose of theapparatus above described to secure a more uniform drying byaccelerating the drying of the interior and bottom of the pot andretarding the drylng of the upper edge of the pot. The slight amount ofheat supplied to the plate 2 by means of the incandescent lamp 7accelerates the drying out of the bottom of the pot, but the arrangementand amount of heat is such that the bottom of the pot is not undulyrapid, and merely keeps pace with the drying out in the other portionsof the pot. The lamp 12 in the flue 11 produces an up draft through suchflue, thus causing an inflow of an down the sides ofthe pot, to take theplace of the air drawn out, This flow of air over the interior of thepot accelerates the drying of such portion, the draft as pro duced bythe tube and lamp being of course relatively slight, but just sufficientto make the drying conform with that of the exterior of the pot, atwhich surface there is naturally a freer natural draft and a more rapiddrying. The oilcloth 10 need not be used in all cases, but is ofmaterial assistance in holding back the drying out of the upper edgewhen such drying out seems to be progrossing more rapidly thanthe-drying of the other portions of the pot. The forego- 1ng method notonly produces a more uniform drying than the process heretoforeemployed, thus reducing the amount of cracking in the pot, but alsoreduces the total time necessary to dry the pot.

Having illustrated its use, desire to secure by lowing:

1. A pot drying apparatus comprising a supporting plate beneath thebottom of the pot, an individual inclosed heating element beneath thesaid plate, a vertically extending flue in the pot, and a heatingelement in the flue, whereby an upward draft through the flue issecured.

2. The process of drying a pot for use in what I claim as new andLetters Patent, is the folthus described mydnvention and this drying outprocess at melting glass, which consists in suppo 'ting the pot with itsbottom in contact with a .heat conducting element substantiallycoextensive with said bottom, supplying a rela- 5 tively small amount ofheat from a source beneaththe said element, and confining the air,heated by the source beneath the said element.

WILLIAM E. BARNES.

Witnesses:

M. L. COOHRAN, C. S. LAMB.

